


Tip on the Tightrope

by whenyoudesertme (phrenk)



Series: Meme fills [11]
Category: Arashi (Band), Japanese Actor RPF, Johnny's Entertainment
Genre: Alternate Universe - Circus, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-16
Updated: 2014-06-16
Packaged: 2018-02-04 20:56:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,398
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1792954
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/phrenk/pseuds/whenyoudesertme
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>For topazera, who asked for: "Jun/Rola - Circus AU! Because Jun is dead serious about whatever he does there :D" <a href="http://whenyoudesertme.livejournal.com/37186.html">here</a>.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Tip on the Tightrope

**Author's Note:**

  * For [topazera](https://archiveofourown.org/users/topazera/gifts).



> Thanks to HM for giving this a look before I posted it. <3<3

Jun's first emotion on hearing Riisa's momentous announcement was, quite properly, utterly unselfish elation. She and her husband, Akiyoshi, were smiling from ear to ear, each with a hand laid unconsciously on her belly.

It was early yet, and Riisa certainly wasn't showing, and maybe that was why Jun didn't realize on his own that this happy news had another effect on his life besides a new member being born into his chosen family.

"The doctors say it's perfectly safe to perform for another two months. We have plenty of time to train you up a new partner," Riisa said reassuringly.

"New partner?" Jun echoed, drawing a blank.

"Amami-san won't want you doing the act alone. You're great, of course, but all our most exciting tricks are for two people, and besides, it's what the fans expect."

"But... Riisa, you're the only partner I've performed with. Couldn't I just," he started, but he didn't know how to finish his sentence.

"I'll come back, you know," she said, matter of fact. "No kid's going to keep me away."

"Ah, such sentiment," Akiyoshi said, tilting his head affectionately against Riisa. "Can we go back to the part where we're going to have a _baby_? This is a day to commemorate forever!"

"I'm pretty sure you're thinking of the actual birthday," Riisa said dryly, patting his hand on her stomach.

Jun spent several hours celebrating with the happy couple, using his true happiness for them to suppress his growing panic at the idea of having a new partner.

*

Jun knew Rola only from afar. He saw her at every performance the circus put on, of course, but whether on an adrenaline high pre-performance or crashing with satisfaction at a job well done after, it was hard to care much about the overly pink-cheeked, often incredibly short-skirted "fashion girl" who walked a makeshift runway in various outfits between the acts, sometimes sharing the spotlight with exotic animals or jugglers.

Jun knew other troupes had women walking around the ring in bikinis instead, but it still seemed degrading to him that Rola strutted around with no greater talent on display than her long legs and delicately adorable face.

This intra-troupe audition was the first time he'd seen her up close, and while she'd toned down her stage makeup to something more natural-looking, she still preened like a flirty peacock.

Jun tried not to let his dislike show on his face. Riisa, beside him at the folding table, only smiled.

"I trust you learned the tryout routine," Jun said, carefully polite though not encouraging.

"I totally did," Rola answered cutely, puffing out her cheeks. "It's boring, right?"

Jun blinked, wondering if he'd misheard.

Riisa said, "We just want to see what basic skills you have. Jun can teach you the more difficult tricks later, if you're chosen."

"If you say so," Rola said and gave a dismissive shrug.

Jun was ready to dismiss her right back. He waited impatiently for her to show her lack of substance up in the air so that he could give her the boot.

Rola climbed up to the highest platform without hesitation and started immediately out onto the wire.

Jun's eyes widened.

Riisa chuckled. "Did I mention Rola-chan and I are friends?" she murmured. "I've been teaching her for months while you've been busy helping management plan the shows."

He said nothing, just watched aghast--and impressed despite himself--as Rola went through the tightrope routine easily, not a balance check in sight.

Finally he hissed, "This is a setup."

"Ehh, it is not. Did you think I'd leave you without a capable partner? Rola-chan is your best option, and I assume you want the best."

Jun looked away from Rola to Riisa's round face framed by purple-pink hair. " _You_ are the best, Riisa."

"Flatterer." Riisa didn't take her eyes off Rola, though her mouth curved into a small smile. "Oh hey, that's new."

Jun looked back up quickly to see the safe finale he'd choreographed transformed to a daring side handstand. Rola's whole body was in a straight line all the way to her toes, which pointed firmly up at the ceiling.

"What the hell is she doing?" he muttered anxiously, standing up as if he could stop her, save her.

"Would you look at that," Riisa said, awed, and stood up to bump Jun's side with her shoulder. "Look at how steady she is... wait, what--"

As they watched, horrified, Rola moved deliberately out of her handstand, falling stomach-first toward the net far below. Jun started forward, then froze when he realized Rola still had a firm grip on the wire.

"I'd wondered why she was wearing gloves," Riisa said distractedly. "She's trying for a giant, holy shit."

"She'll never make it," Jun said harshly, but he found himself hoping she would.

Rola almost did. She swung her body in a complete circle around the wire with seeming ease, but she undershot the mark coming back up to her handstand. She teetered there for a moment, knocking the breath from Jun's lungs. Then she fell as if in slow motion.

Jun, transfixed, heard without quite registering it the trademark "Okay~~" from the falling figure. Riisa snickered helplessly as Rola hit the net.

"She even tried to do the pose. She's a real pro."

Jun didn't care. Even if Rola was the best tightrope walker in the troupe, he didn't care. If she got out of that net safe and sound, he was going to tell her she was disqualified.

A minute or two later, Rola strolled back over to stand in front of the table again.

"Uwaaa, that was good," she said, cutesy and brazen at the same time. "You saw?"

She winked at Jun, then Riisa, cheeks pink from more than her application of blush.

"Rola-san," Jun growled. "What the hell were you thinking! Did you think that stunt would impress us?"

"Jun," Riisa warned quietly. "She's the best one." Despite her serious tone, she kept her voice low enough that only Jun could hear her, respecting their long partnership enough not to show a divided front to an outsider.

"Ah, you were impressed?" Rola answered Jun smugly. "Well, of course you were, heehee."

Jun sighed, goaded beyond measure. His next words came out with difficulty. "You're the most qualified candidate. But Rola-san, if you pull something like that again, the runner-up will be up on that wire in your place before you know it."

Rola smiled, giggled irritatingly, and brought her hands up to her face in double peace signs.

"Understood!" she chirped.

Jun wanted to cry.

*

Jun's premonition that his new partnership would be a trainwreck didn't entirely come true.

Rola was irrepressible, blunt to the point of rudeness, and almost never without affectation, but she was also smart, talented, and--most importantly to Jun--she worked incredibly hard. With how much she complained, it took Jun a while to realize it, but soon he saw that her mouth chattered on while she stayed right by his side, working just as much as he did. Maybe more.

He'd learned during their long month of training just how much she valued appearing effortless in her movements, her skills, even her persona. Extrapolating backwards, he imagined just how many hours she'd toiled with Riisa and on her own in order to show them an audition routine that she'd made look like child's play, at least until the grand finale. He was impressed with her, he had to admit. Rarely, he even admitted it to her.

Still, she grated on him sometimes. She clearly did it on purpose, like when she pretended not to be able to remember his name when other people were present. Even he'd started to find that amusing, though, as if he were watching a master pest play upon the finely-tuned instrument that was his nerves without ever tipping him over into genuine anger.

Genuine anger with her came only from her incessant arguing with him about the routine for real performances.

"It's boring," Rola said for the hundredth time. She giggled falsely afterward as if at a hilarious joke.

"I choreographed that myself," Jun gritted out, ready for her to give up again so they could go back to practicing on the bicycles. More than the skills, the practice now was to get them used to one another, something that had taken years to perfect with Jun and Riisa.

"For you and Naka-chan," Rola said, annoyingly spot on. "If you change a partner out, the whole partnership changes, you know. New partnership, new routine! _Okay_?" She brought her circled thumb and index finger up to her cheek, tongue peeking out like an exclamation point to her argument.

Jun opened his mouth, automatically getting angry, then closed it again. Rola dropped the pose and just blinked her huge lashes at him, no doubt trying to be cute.

She was infuriating. Even more infuriatingly, she was _right._

Still, he couldn't give in just like that. "We only have four weeks before Riisa's last performance. I don't have time to create and perfect a new routine while helping plan the whole show, too."

"Don't worry a bit, Matsumoto-kun! I have lots of ideas."

Jun looked at her determined eyes, incongruous in her deliberately adorable face.

"You have a week," he said finally, eyes holding hers. "And we still have to have our normal practices on top of that."

"But no practicing the old, _boring_ routine anymore, yay!" Rola cheered, doing a very girly fist-pump of triumph.

Jun's lips twitched in amusement. Then he smiled, completely against his will. Rola winked at him slyly.

He sighed. "That's right, no more boring routines. Better get started... okay~?"

He had never heard Rola laugh as hard as she did when he tried to imitate her cutesy pose, tongue poking out and all.

*

One month later, adrenaline rocketed through Jun as he and Rola stepped out onto the platform, their bodies sparkling in tight, spangled outfits.

"We can do this," Jun muttered, heart in his throat. His last performance with Riisa had been emotionally hard but a masterpiece. Now he just had to start this new partnership off right.

"Okay!" Rola said under her breath. He looked at her, expecting her pose, but instead she looked at him, clenched her fists, and said, "Let's be _perfect._ "

Jun was half in love with her right then, with her fierce determination and drive to be just the person she wanted to be. He lowered his chin toward her in utter agreement.

The music for their routine started with a bubblegum pop number.

Rola squared her shoulders and strutted out onto the wire, every inch the "fashion girl" of old, only now she performed more than ten meters up in the air. She was up on the balls of her feet in her thin, leather-soled slippers, clearly wearing imaginary heels. She made the dazzling circus outfit look like it belonged in a fashion show by sheer force of personality.

After walking all the way down like the tightrope was a runway, complete with poses and a twirl just in front of the other platform, Rola started back toward Jun.

In the middle, she faltered ostentatiously, drawing cries of worry from the crowd.

That was Jun's cue. Blood surging hot in his veins, Jun _ran_ forward to steady her as the music changed to an upbeat love song.

They pretended to meet cute with Jun spinning Rola carefully around, then went on a series of dates as if their relationship was deepening. They rode bicycles, pretending to look at the scenery while really balancing so intently they couldn't see anything but the wire and each other, then Jun juggled as if to try to impress his date, who clapped and laughed and executed a few tricky jumps that she made look entirely spontaneous. Finally he put her up on his shoulders and did some of their hardest moves with her up there, all to great applause.

When they were near the end, performing almost as perfectly as Jun could ever hope for, he noticed for the first time that Rola had slipped on a pair of light, flexible gloves. He tossed away the hoops they'd been manipulating showily, giving her a look of suspicion that hopefully seemed more like lovesickness to the crowd below.

The music changed to a triumphant rock ballad, guitars wailing away, and as Jun gaped, barely remembering to exaggerate it so the audience could see, Rola kicked up into a side handstand.

Jun stayed very, very still, hoping against hope that she'd leave it at that.

Then, slowly, inevitably, she let herself fall. Jun could only watch, not having to act to show panic to the crowd.

Rola made it around, the sparkling sweep of her body through the air drawing exhilarated shrieks from the crowd, all the way back up to balance on her hands.

Jun was the only one who could see her balance falter, and he leaped forward gracefully, desperately, to steady her with a firm grip on one slender, bedazzled ankle.

The crowd _roared._

"You are so dead," Jun said hoarsely, knowing the audience would see his mouth move and his besotted expression and take it that he'd confessed his love. This part, at least, was choreographed, though Rola was supposed to be on her feet, not her hands.

Rola cartwheeled away from him to stand rock-solid on the wire. "It was Naka-chan's idea," she said, clasping her hands dramatically to her chest. The crowd took it as her return confession and the cheers got even wilder.

She skipped toward him lightly and he caught her around the waist, bending his head as he pretended to kiss her, so close that it was a fine line between pretending and real.

Jun whispered, lips brushing hers, "Let's _practice_ that before the next performance, Rola-chan."

Rola said sweetly, "Okay~~"

He grinned against her mouth, realizing she'd always had the better of him, and just as the crowd noise reached a crescendo, she kissed him for real.

Stunned, barely remembering that he still needed to balance, that he was standing on a _wire_ , Jun kissed her back, thinking deliriously that it was going to be a hard first performance to top.

He looked forward to trying, to brainstorming and bickering and kissing and working hard with her.


End file.
